Under Watchful Eyes...

​For these plains zebra in Ngorongoro, safety is found in numbers, clear visibility, and open landscapes. In the amazingly rich ecosystems of the crater’s plains and savannahs, predator and prey can often be seen in uneasy (at least for the zebra) proximity. The wary equids spend daylight hours taking advantage of the grass growing in the fertile volcanic soil, grazing in relative safety. I suspect it is a dramatically different scenario in the darkness.

Prior to the days of quality cell-phone cameras, I would keep a rugged point-and-shoot camera as a side-arm in a pouch on my belt. During this particular shot, the lions passed so close to the Landcruiser that I wanted a wider-angle perspective, so I put down the telephoto lens and reached to my hip for my reliable Nikon Coolpix for this shot.